Route guidance



Aug. 14, 192s. '1,680,998

P. M. KRANTZ ROUTE GUIDANCE' Filed Dec. 1, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR BY! t #i f6 ATTORNEY Aug. 14, 1928. 1,680,998

P. M. KRANTz ROUTE GUIDANCE Filed Dec. l, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTOR Philip M. lmntz.

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 14, 1928.

u UNITED STATES `ruim? M. mNTzv, or BROOKLYN, Naw YoRx.

` ROUTE GUIDANCE.

Application lled December 1, 1986. Serial No. 151,852.

The sub'ect of this invention, in one of the aspects of the latter, is a new article of manufacture, for use 4by an operator, pilot or driver of an airplane, automobile, or

5 other conveyance; such article including the usually on sale, such holder may elements of a route-indicium carrier and an optical instrumentality, the latter for preferably adjustable interposition betweenl the eye of such operator and the suitable sup-y port for said carrier,-this carrier being preferably a paper or other suitable comparatively limply flexible `strip or sheet.

Adj ustably mounted magnifier-s have heretofore been proposed, as in U. S. Patent No. 1,345,272, for facilitating the reading of sometimes relatively ille 1ble manuscript or other indicia continued oservation of which with the naked eye may cause eye-strain or error of manipulation of' associated appliances or device; but heretofore, S0 far as l amaware, no article of manufacture like that first-above referred to has been proposed.

Such new article of manufacture is capable, within the invention, of very many different utilizations; anion which I may mention, of those now in mind particularly important for automotive or other road vehicles, (l) supporting and rendering easily readable say to an automobile touristdriver, fairly lon -distance and comparatively small-scale ut large-size road-maps, without refolding or otherwise readjusting such a map throughout the trip over such a route-distance,-and '2) supporting and rendering easily readab e, to the driver of say a department store delivery vehicle, an easily handled single sheet or strip of fairly small'size yet carrying as manynaines` and addresses as the now employed bulky or` numerous delivery or route sheet or'sheets.

The present'invention also provides, however, when viewed in perha s a broader aspect, a support for a map, a elivery s'heet, or an analogous record-member, of a new and improved type, and havin one or more features of those satisfying t e statements of certain objects of the invention, followmg: f y t Y (A) One of such objects is to provide a new and improved holder for a road-map so constructed and equippedv that, evenwith a standard, large multi-folded ma y vcarried as now Y continuously on the vsteering post -orother part of the automobile so that the map can be readily seen at all times in order that the driver may constantly have before him a ma of the road.

B) Another such object is to providefa desired for a special strip-record to be in"- spected fromtime to time'by a vehicle pilot or driver, which record may be readjusted` relative to the holder quickly and without necessity for unfolding and/ or refoldin the sam e; and yet a holder with which` the 1 optlcal instrumentality hereinabove referred to may be combined practicably, and inV (C) Another of these objects is to pro-` vide a holder for route-indicia comprisin wholly o r chiefly one or a very few only o inexpensive sheet material elements each so designed that it may be manufactured from a mmimum amount of material, and with a holder as just described, adapted'also when"` minimum wastage thereof; whereby to make any embodiment of the invention of really inconsequential expense.

(D) Another object is to provide such holder or one of the sheet material elements just referred to, with a pluralityof integral;`

or other inexpensive litments selectively employable inl various Vcombinationsl for l mount-ing the holder on various standard parts of an automobile or other air or land vehicle, and at various angles, or otherwise variously on such a selected part. 'A

(E) Another of such objects is to rovide a holder fora ma or other record s ieet or strip, which `hol er, when supported for continuous inspection, incorporates `means for protecting such record from rain, snow,

dust, Wind and the like, preferably byv i`nf cluding a transparent protective sheet member also otherwise functionally valuable,

is to provide a new article of manufacture, and a practical method of fabricating the same, which article shall constitute one of the operative components of a route-telltale apparatus according to the invention as already described. Such article, in a partieularly useful embodiment thereof (as the fields of usefulness of the invention are now appraised), is a delivery or route strip for a delivery vehicle, say of a department store making many stops per run Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be specifically pointed out or lapparent hereinafter, in the course ofa description of a preferred one of the various possible forms of the invention as shown in the accompanying drawing; it being4 understood, of course, that such form is merely illustrative of one combination and arrangement of parts calculated to attain the objects of the invention, pursuant to present preference, and hence the detailed description of such form now to be given is not to be taken as at all defining or limiting the invention itself. That is to say, the scope of protection contemplated is to be taken solely from the appended claims, interpreted as broadly. as is consistent with the priorart, and with explanatory refer encesv to the specification only where a claim is ambiguous or to be impliedly limited heyond its express terms to avoid such art in order to save the validity of said claim.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1` shows such form, in side elevation, mounted at the desired angle on the Isteering columnL of say an automobile,-but with the optical` interponent missing and the hanger for, the latter' only fragmentarily shown;

Fig; Q is a transverse vertical section, on an enlarged scale, of the complete embodiment (including said interponent);

Fig. 3 is perspective view of a preferably sheet metal holder member-, a fragment of a co-operant strip record being indicated in dot-antifdash lines;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a prefer-V ably1 {ihre-paper and glassine sheet material holder-member, which, in the illustrated embodimentforms with the device of Fig. 3, a complete liolderstructure for the map or i other record l;.

Liiled in the folder of Fig. 4 to locate the trail7 behind the window of the foldein Fig. 9 is a section, much enlarged, taken on line tif-9 of Fig. 2;

Fig. l() shows, in perspective, the optical interponent, the hanger for the latter, and the slotted column for such hanger, according` to the embodiment of Figs 2 and i);

Fig. l1 shows in perspective the hangerclamp member also illustrated in Figs. 2

. and E); and

Fig. 12 shows a photogral'ihically prepared route or delivery strip as one embodiment of the article of manufacture according to object (F) supra.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In its at present preferred form, that is when constructed more or less pursuant to the illustrative but not deliminative details of the drawings, the holder of the present invention is constructed as follows,-it of course being particularly understood that mention or indication of sizes, dimensions, shapesand materials are not used other than in an illustrative sense:

For purposes of simplicity and brevity, the description now to be given will assume, for example, that the illustrated embodiment is mounted as in F ig. 1, for continuous inspection by the driver of an automobile, on a long trip, or on a tour.

The element 1d, hereinafter sometimes called the frame, is made up of a substantially rectangular sheet, say of metal, stamped and shaped to include a slot 15 and a ledge 1G, for the supporting, lateral sliding and securement of an adjustable hanger 17 for a magnifying-glass 18. An L-shaped piece or column 19 carries a bolt 20 the shank of which passes through slot 15 so that the column and Glass can be moved along the slot as dcsiredl; whereupon a wing nut 21 may be tightened to secure the column 10 against shift. The glass 18, in the present case, is face drilled` at opposite sides to take the upturned hook-ends 17 of the bent-wire glass-hanger 17, which latter is movable up and down a pair of slots 19 in column 19, to proper focus-position relative to the map-plane. Means for holding this last adjustment include an auxiliary barmcmber 23 having a slott through which passes a bolt 24 set in column 19 and also having a transverse groove 23 within which the mid-length of the wire-hanger 17 is nested. j

Frame 14 has side lips 111, and a folder 24 shown best in Fig. et is of such size that the same may be held on frame 1st and within lips 14a as shown in Fig. 2.

The map shown in Fig. 8, folded as there shownI toexpose the trail 25 for say a Utl lill) pand the frontand back leaves 24 and 24"` each such slip-adjustment.

days driving, is set inside the folder to ex ofY the latter as indicated in Fig. 2. The map-pad. thus made will of course be of sub,- stantially` the sameoutline as the back leaf 24b of the folder; and the obverse face of the pad, thatV shown in Fig.. 8, will face outward ythrough the window 24 cut vin front leaf 24 of the folder and through thefcelluloid, glassine or other transparent sheet 26 preferably `present and preferably marginall adhesively secured to the window-sash Portionof folder leaf 24.`

Then the folder and map-pad are inserted in frame 14 as above-described; the lips 14 frict-ionally cla-mpingthe side extensions of the window-sash of the folder 24.

Then the map4plane aforesaid will be established; so that the glass and its hanger 17 may be adjusted and clamped perpendicularly of said lane, and thereafter,`at intervals during tlie -days run, the column 19 carrying the glass thus focused, `may be slipped along ledge 16, without readjusting wing nut 21, to carry'the glass parallelly of said plane-say for another hours run at The frame 14 or any `equivalent in Figs. 5 and,6,-the frame 14 may, for in@ stance, (1) be screwed to a dash board by using the holes in tongues 27, or even by using otherholes as those indicated at 29,

or (2) the frame may be screwed in 4place as just explained and thetongue 28 may be bent out as indicated in Fig. 4 and then screwed to thedash board to adjust the angle of the mapplane, or (3) the frame may be attached to a windshield or dashboard by using the tongues 27 as a hook-over means `forthe top edge of such dash-board, `windshield or the like, said tongues 27 then being arranged as indicated in Fig. 5, or (4) the hook-over 1; attachment last-mentioned may be used lus a use of the tonv'ue 28 as-'above describe "to change the angle of the frame 14, or the tongues 27 and 28 need not lbe used, but instead the three tongues 30 may be bent out as shown in Fig. 1, and three wire mernbers, two of which are indicated at 31 in Fig. 1, may be secured r-to said tongues 30 at their up )er ends, such members 31 being secured. at t eir lower ends to a clamp collar 32 applied around the steering wheel column 33, these wire members of course, if used, being preferablyfiexible and so bendableto adjust the angle of frame 14. Y Y

The invention also has `a very valuable adaptation, as hereinabove indicated, 'for `may be, suitablysecured to or; hung from or rested handling delivery or'route sheets .on Vdelivery vehicles, say asusedr in largecities, in al manner to overcome the previous troubles and nuisances of handling a lot of loose sheets or a very large and unmanageable single sheet. The adaptation of the inven tion now being considered is nowbelievedl to be most practical when advantage istaken of another feature of the invention,ito wit,` a method of economically and practically usual nakedv eye-because, then, particularly,

the same`v structure provided for the automobile tourist, or long-'distance automobilist,

may be sold to the owners ofsuch delivery vehicles, and thus sold to themy atreally'very low cost, as the optical instrumentality wouldbe of equal if not greater value to the driver of the delivery vehicle than to the automobilist just referred to.

Accord'nfr to this utilization ofthe inven-f tion, and 'a utilization having in mind the attainment ot the low-cost advantage justk mentioned, the structure already described need only be modiiied by forming the frame 14 to incorporate also a pair of side slot-s 14 at or near the roots of the lips 14a,while,1onl

the other hand, it is obvious that these side Vslots may just aswell' as not be incorporated in the structure as manufactured 'for and sold to the automobile tourist.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 12,a new article of manufacture according to the invention, and for carryingl the route or de livery indicia, is indicated at 24. The master strip or sheet, or a plurality of such sheets or strips, (not shown), is or are re- Vdescribed will be made. Desirably, the replica will be so much reduced, that the Vwidth of the strip 134 will be, as indicatedin Fig.V

3, such as to permit the strip to be'endwisely threaded through theslots 14 and between the front and rear leaves of the folderr 24 in placeon the frame 14, and thereafter fed endwisely through and between the elements last described, to bring one column 34 after another, as required, into the iield of view los of the glass 18. Such a mode of operation is recommended, because then the glass may bc clamped say oppositethe center of the frame 14, as well as in proper locus; and no readjustment will be required during coveringiot the entire delivery route. The utilization of the glass 18, of course, makes it unimportant that probably, to save eX- pense, the entries in the various columns 34 will be practically illegible to the naked eye, as indicated in the case of one of the columns as shown in Fig. 12.

Inasmuch as many changes could be made in the above constructions, and many apparently widely different embodiments ofA my invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language contained in the following claims is intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim:

1. In a route guidance device, the eombination of a carrier for an indicia sheet, and a holder for said carrier; said carrier including a transparent front sheet, and a second sheet, and these sheets being flexibly joined at their bottoms to constitute a rudimentary book between the sheets of which book an indicia sheet in the shape of a folded map may be placed to be held in the book by gravity when the book is arranged with such flexible jointure lowermost and substantially horizontal; and said holder including a sheet-like main structure carrying at its bottom a forwardly protruding element on which the lowermost portion of the book may rest by gravity, said holder also including elements at its sides for coacting with said main structure to seize the side edges of the book, to torce the book sheets together and resiliently against the indicia sheet, thereby simultaneously to hold said indicia sheet frictionally within the book and to hold the book frictionally on said forwardly protruding element,-said side elements having portions l'or engaging the side edges of the book to hold the latter positively against shift laterally of said main structure.

2. In a route guidance device, a supporting means for an indicia sheet including a platclike structure to act as a rigid backiiw, said device also including side lips providing opposed recesses at opposite sides of the backing and extending from near the top to near the bottom of the backing, said lips overlying elongate slots aligned so as to permit an elongate indicia sheet to be moved lengthwise through both slots to expose a selected longitudinal subdivision of said sheet in front of said backing between said lips.

3. In a route guidance device, a supporting means for an indicia sheet including a plate-like structure to act as a rigid backing, said device also including side lips providing opposed recesses at opposite sides of the backing and extending from near the top to near the bottom of the backing, and said device further including a forwardly extended ledge near the bottom of the backing; in combination with a magnifying glass, and means adjustably positioning said glass to act with maximum optical efficacy relative to a predetermined portion of an indicia sheet on said supporting means, said positioning means including partially said ledge.

PHILIP M. KRANTZ. 

